The Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB; Brazilian Air Force) inducted its first two Saab F-39E Gripen multi-role fighters into operational service with the 1° Grupo de Defesa Aérea (1° GDA; 1st Air Defense Group) ‘Jaguar Squadron’ during a ceremony at Anápolis Air Base on December 19.
The Gripen’s induction ceremony was presided over by the commander of the FAB, Lt Brig Carlos de Almeida Baptista Jr, and was also attended by the Swedish Ambassador to Brazil, Karin Wallensteen, along with other high-ranking military, industry and government officials and former FAB commanders. While the first four F-39Es (serials 4101, 4102, 4103 and 4104) were handed over to the FAB during a ceremony in Sweden on November 24, 2021, before the initial two (4101 and 4102) were delivered by ship to Brazil on April 2, 2022, this ceremony marks the type’s formal induction into operational service. A further two Gripens arrived in Brazil on September 25.
During the induction ceremony, Lt Brig Baptista Jr highlighted the enhanced capabilities that the Gripen will bring to the FAB going forward. “Preparing the Anápolis Air Base [for Gripen] took six-to-eight years, as this aircraft requires a different infrastructure from the planes we operated until today. From now on, Brazil greatly increases its capacity to defend and maintain our national sovereignty, which is the main mission of the Air Force,” he said.
Micael Johansson, the president and CEO of Saab, was also in attendance at the event, during which he praised the partnership between the Swedish firm and the FAB and spoke about the Gripen project. He said: “The new Gripen fighters will take security to a new level, guaranteeing Brazil’s sovereignty and helping the country to strengthen control of its borders and protect its people and society. Brazil now has one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world. Thank you and congratulations on reaching this important milestone.”
In October 2014, the Brazilian Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced it had agreed the purchase of 28 single-seat JAS 39Es and eight two-seat JAS 39Fs from Saab in a deal worth $5.4bn, after the type was selected as the winner of the FAB’s long-standing FX-2 fighter programme in December 2013. In FAB service, the Gripen will eventually replace the air arm’s ageing Northrop F-5EM/FM Tiger II and AMX International A-1M/BMs, allowing Brazil to standardise the fleet, thus lowering operating costs and increasing its ability to respond to external threats.
The Gripen’s induction into FAB service comes after the Military Type Certificate for the Gripen E – the most enhance version of the JAS 39 family to be produced to date – was issued in November. This certifies that the multi-role fighter has met all the airworthiness and flight safety requirements set out by the Swedish Military Aviation Inspectorate in Sweden and the Institute of Promotion and Industrial Coordination in Brazil.
